NEW YORK (AP) — A new study shows the bird flu has silently spread from animals to some veterinarians.
It echoes two smaller studies that detected evidence of infection in previously undiagnosed farmworkers. Those studies had small sample sizes, but showed between 7 and 14 percent of those dairy farm workers had been sick.
Half or more of the infected workers remembered having symptoms.
In the new study, none of the infected veterinarians recalled suffering symptoms. Researchers said it could mean many more people who work around birds and cattle have been infected the bird flu. But since people develop natural immunity, researchers said it is not cause for alarm, unless the virus changes or mutates to a more severe and contagious version.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the study Thursday.